by S. B. Divya
A massive thank you to all of my beta readers, starting with my spouse, Ryan, who was more of an alpha reader turned one-man cheering squad; my parents, Anusha & Shaker, who read multiple versions and supported my writer-life in so many ways; my friends Marshall Robin, Yvonne Maier, Owen Landgren, and Ion Hazzikostas for their feedback; and fellow authors Stewart Baker, Laurence Brothers, Steph Bianchini, and Steve Bordelon for their critiques.
Thank you, my friend Pinguino Kolb, for the awesome robot fist logo design, which helped complete the book cover as well. A hearty thanks to Wang Zi Won for the inspiring mechanical Buddha artwork, Richard Yoo for the cover design, and John Vairo for the art direction. While it’s true that you can’t judge a book by its cover, a great one can tempt a new reader to open its pages. I hope this one accomplishes that for at least one person.
Thank you to my eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Bos, in whose class I wrote my first science fiction story; my generous benefactors in 2018, whose retreat allowed me to finish revising this book in record time; and Maya, for wanting to read this book, even though she isn’t old enough yet.
Finally, I have to thank all the beings that support our world, whether biological or machine, mindless or mindful. The state of A.I. today hasn’t reached the level of the one in this story, but I believe we’re not that far off from such a future. I hope that we, as a society, think seriously about how we’re going to treat humanity’s newest labor force before we discover that, once again, we are the true monsters.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
S.B. DIVYA is a lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma. She is the Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated author of Runtime and coeditor of the Escape Pod podcast, with Mur Lafferty. Her short stories have been published in various magazines, and her short story collection, Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse and Other Situations, is out now from Hachette India. She holds degrees in computational neuroscience and signal processing, and she worked for twenty years as an electrical engineer before becoming an author. Find out more at sbdivya.com or on Twitter @divyastweets.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Divya Srinivasan Breed
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First Saga Press hardcover edition March 2021
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Interior design by Michelle Marchese
Jacket design by Richard Yoo
Jacket 3D illustration by Zi Won Wang
Author photograph © Sargeant Creative
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Divya, S. B., author.
Title: Machinehood / S.B. Divya.
Description: London ; New York : Saga, [2021]
Identifiers: LCCN 2020028891 (print) | LCCN 2020028892 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982148065 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982148089 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3604.I928 M33 2021 (print) | LCC PS3604.I928 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020028891
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020028892
ISBN 978-1-9821-4806-5
ISBN 978-1-9821-4808-9 (ebook)
